There has been a dramatic increase in hunger in the
United States in the last three years, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Statistics are only
available for 2008. US statistics do not
measure hunger, they measure food insecurity and security
(explained below).

The Census Bureau statistics establish two grades of food
insecurity.

Very low food security In these food-insecure households, normal eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake was reduced at times during the year because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. 6.7 million US households (5.7 percent of all US households) had very low food security at some time during 2008, a 39 percent increase from 2007 (4.1 percent of US households). This was the largest increase ever recorded since nationally representative food security surveys were initiated in 1995, as well as the largest year-to-year percentage increase.

The defining characteristic of very low food security is that, at times
during the year, the food intake of household members is reduced and their
normal eating patterns are disrupted because the household lacks money and other
resources for food. On average, households with very low food security at
some time during the year experienced it in 7 or 8 months during the year and in
1 to 7 days in each of those months. Ninety-seven percent of those classified as having low
food security reported that an adult had cut the size of meals or skipped meals
because there was not enough money for food and 27 percent reported that an
adult did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough money for food
(USDA
2010) .
(Click
here for more information on very low food security.)

Who are the food insecure? Prevalence rates of very low food security were higher than the 5.7-percent national average for:

Households with incomes below the poverty line (19.3 percent)

Families with children, headed by single women (13.3 percent)

Black households (10.1 percent)

Hispanic households (8.8 percent)

Households in principal cities of metropolitan areas (6.6 percent)

Where do they live? The image below shows
food security status by state (USDA "Food
Security").

Low food insecurity 10.4 million US
households (8.9 percent of households) had low food security in 2008,
a 27 percent increase from 2007. These food-insecure
households obtained enough food to avoid substantially
disrupting their eating patterns or reducing food intake by
using a variety of coping strategies, such as eating less
varied diets, participating in Federal food assistance
programs, or getting emergency food from community food
pantries. (See below for more information on food assistance
programs.)

Food insecurity Thus, counting those with low
and very low food security, in 2008, 17 million households, 14.6 percent of households
(approximately one in seven), were food insecure,
the highest number ever recorded in the United States.
Four million households became food insecure in 2008,
the largest increase ever recorded (p. iii, USDA 2008).
(To get population figures from family size figures,
multiply family size numbers by 2.58, the average family
size.)

Food insecure children In 2007, 15.8 percent of households with
children were food insecure at some time during the
year. In about half of those households, only adults
were food insecure, but in 8.3 percent of households
with children, one or more of the children were also
food insecure at some time during the year. In 0.8
percent of households with children, one or more of the
children experienced the most severe food-insecure
condition measured by USDA, very low food security, in
which meals were irregular and food intake was below
levels considered adequate by caregivers (Nord
2009).

How much more spending on food would it take to
make food insecure households food secure (a rough
estimate)? The median [a type of average]
food-secure household spent 28 percent more on food than
the median food-insecure household of the same size and
household composition (USDA 2008 ).

In 2009, 43.6 million people were poor, up from
39.8 million in 2008 and 37.3 million in 2007 . The
nation's official poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent,
up from 13.2 percent in 2008 — the second statistically
significant annual increase in the poverty rate since
2004. (Census
Bureau 2010a p.13)

The poverty rate in 2009 was the highest since 1994, but
was 8.1 percentage points lower than the poverty rate in
1959, the first year for which poverty estimates are
available. The number of people in poverty in 2009 is
the largest number in the 51 years for which poverty
estimates are available.(Census
Bureau 2010a p.13)

Between 2008 and 2009, the poverty rate increased for children
under the age of 18 from 19.0 percent to 20.7 percent.
Thus one in five children in the United States live in
poverty. Almost half of these children (9.3 percent)
live in extreme poverty. (Census
Bureau 2010a p.13)

In 2009, the family poverty rate and the number of
families in poverty were 11.1 percent and 8.8 million,
respectively, up from 10.3 percent and 8.1 million in
2008. (Census
Bureau 2010a p.18)

19 million Americans( 6.3 percent) live in extreme poverty. This
means their family’s cash income is less than
half of the poverty line, or less than about $11,000 a
year for a family of four. (Census
Bureau 2010a p.19)

16 million low-income households either paid more
for rent and utilities than the federal government says
is affordable or lived in overcrowded or substandard
housing (CBPP 2007).

The percentage of people without health insurance increased to 16.7
percent in 2009 from 15.4 percent in 2008. The number of uninsured
people increased to 50.7 million in 2009 from 46.3 million in 2008
(Census
Bureau 2010a p. 22)

(Hunger is principally
caused by poverty so this section will focus on causes of
poverty.)

There are, we believe, three main causes of poverty in
the United States: poverty in the world; the operation of
the political and economic system in the United States which
has tended to keep people from poor families poor, and
the culture of inequality and poverty that can negatively
influence the behavior of at least some
people who are poor.

Poverty in the world There are a lot of poor
people in the world. An estimated 2 billion people are poor,
and the same amount hungry (World Hunger Facts) They
are much, much, poorer than people in the United States.
As
can be imagined, people do not want to be hungry and
desperately poor. In the world economic system there
are two main ways in which relatively poor people have their income
increased: through trade, and through immigration.
Trade, we believe, is the most important.

Trade. It is important to understand some basic
economics. We in the United States live in a rich
country, that has a large amount of capital--machinery,
etc.--to produce things relative to the amount of
labor--people that want to work. Poor countries have a
lot of labor, but relatively little capital. There is a
basic idea of economics--the factor price equalization
theorem--that states that wages in rich countries will
tend to go down and increase in poor countries through
trade (Wikipedia 2010b). Thus China, with low wages,
puts pressure on wages in the United States, as
production is shifted to China from the United
States. This movement of production from richer to
poorer countries is initiated by corporations, not
individuals, but it does shift jobs and income to
poorer countries and people, and has been doing so for
the last 200 years, perhaps most markedly in the 30 years or so. Lower income people in the
United States are particularly vulnerable to such
shifts as their jobs tend to be the ones that are
shifted.

Immigration. A clear strategy for poor people
is to go where there are higher paying jobs
(often opposed to the alternative of no jobs at all).
Thus immigration has been a major response to poverty by
people in poor countries.

The operation of the US economic and political system The
operation of the US economic and political system has led to
certain people/groups being relatively disenfranchised.

The normal operation of the economic
system in the United States will create a significant amount of poverty.

First, in
a free enterprise economy, there is competition for jobs,
with jobs going to the most qualified. On the other hand,
there is almost always a significant amount of unemployment,
so that not everyone will get a job, with the major
unemployment falling on the least qualified. It might
be tempting to indentify them as 'unemployable' but what is
in fact happening is that the private enterprise
system is not generating enough jobs to employ everyone.
(Nor is governenment the 'employer of last resort.')

Secondly, the top echelon of business
has the power to allocate the profits of the enterprise,
and certainly they have allocated these profits to
themselves in recent years.

The operation of the US
political system, which should address the major problems of
its citizens, is to a great extent not focused on
fundamental concerns of poor people, but on other concerns.

Military and security expenditure
represent half of US federal government discretionary
expenditures, much larger than expenditures to assist
poor people, and this budgeting is assisted by a
strong web of political and financial connections, which
has been termed the "military-industrial complex."

Corporations and the rich, through
their ability to lobby Congress and the Administration
effectively by such means as spending large amounts of
money on lobbying efforts and on political campaigns of
elected officials have succeeded in establishing their
priorities, including tax breaks and subsidies.

The Democratic party, which used to be
a party of the 'working class' has now set its sights on
the 'middle class' as the target base of voters
to which it must
appeal.

The culture of inequality and poverty

There are various aspects to the culture of poverty

People are typically segregated by income and often
race.

Jobs are low paid and scarce. This can lead to
crime as a way of obtaining income, and also to
unemployed men not willing to marry, which can play a
significant role in developing a cultural model of single parent families.

The lack of income, as described in the poverty section
above, creates problems, including poor housing, lack of
food, health problems and the inability to address needs of
one's children.

As a result of their situation
(as well as human fraility), people
living in poverty can themselves
have patterns of behavior, such as
alcoholism or a 'life of crime',
that are harmful to them (Goldsmith
2010, Cohen 2010)

United States
after-tax income by income level and share of total US income by income level
(1979 to 2007/6)

Hunger Fifty-five percent of food-insecure households
participated in one or more of the three largest Federal
food and nutrition assistance programs (USDA 2008,
p. iv).
They were the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), the new name for the food stamp program
(Wikipedia 2010), the Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) (Wikipedia
2010), and the
National School Lunch Program (Wikipedia 2010). In
addition there is a significant private effort to feed
hungry people through food banks and allied agencies.

SNAP/Food stamps
The
Food Stamp Program, the nation’s most important anti-hunger
program, helps roughly 40 million low-income Americans to
afford a nutritionally adequate diet. More than 75 percent
of all food stamp participants are in families with
children; nearly one-third of participants are elderly
people or people with disabilities. Unlike most means-tested benefit programs, which are restricted to particular categories of low-income individuals, the Food Stamp Program is broadly available to almost all households with low incomes. Under federal rules, to qualify for food stamps, a household must meet three criteria (some states have raised these limits):

Its total monthly income generally must be at or below 130 percent of the poverty line, or roughly $1,980 (about $23,800 a year) for a three-person family in fiscal year 2010.

Its net income, or income after deductions are applied for items such as high housing costs and child care, must be less than or equal to the poverty line.

Its assets must fall below certain limits: households without an elderly member must have assets of $2,000 or less, and households with an elderly or disabled member must have assets of $3,000 or less.
(Taken from CBPP Food Stamps.
Also see
Wikipedia
SNAP
and USDA SNAP)

WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants and Children) WIC provides nutritious foods, nutrition education, and referrals to health and other social services to low-income pregnant,
postpartum and breastfeeding women, and infants and children up to age 5 who are at
nutrition risk. WIC participants receive checks or vouchers to purchase nutritious
foods each month, including infant cereal, iron-fortified adult cereal, vitamin C-rich fruit or
vegetable juice, eggs, milk, cheese, peanut butter, dried and canned beans/peas, and
canned fish. Other options such as fruits and vegetables, baby foods, and whole wheat
bread were recently added. Participants family income must fall at or below 185 percent of the U.S. Poverty Income Guidelines (in 2010, $40,793 for a family of four). Eligibility is also granted to participants in other
benefit programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, or
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Children are the largest category of WIC participants. Of the 8.7 million people who received WIC benefits each month in FY 2008, approximately 4.3 million
were children, 2.2 million were infants, and 2.2 million were women. The cost of the program is $7.252 billion for WIC in FY2010. WIC is not an entitlement program: Congress does not set aside funds to allow
every eligible individual to participate in the program. Instead, WIC is a Federal grant
program for which Congress authorizes a specific amount of funding each year for
program operations.

National School Lunch Program The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program that provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children from low income families,
reaching 30.5 million children in 2008. Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level
are eligible for free meals. Those with incomes between 130 percent and 185 percent of the
poverty level are eligible for reduced-price meals, for which students can be charged no
more than 40 cents. (For the period July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010, 130 percent of the
poverty level is $28,665 for a family of four; 185 percent is $40,793.)
Children from families with incomes over 185 percent of poverty pay a full price, though
their meals are still subsidized to some extent by the program. Program cost was
$9.3 billion in 2008. (USDA
School Lunch Program)

Food Banks Food banks
established in local communities obtain food principally
from growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers who
in the normal course of business have excess food that they
cannot sell. Other sources of food include the general
public in the form of food drives and government programs
that buy and distribute excess farm products, mostly to help
support higher commodity prices (See USDA
TEFAP). Food banks then distribute food to a large
number of non-profit community or government agencies,
including food pantries,
soup
kitchens, and
homeless shelters. (Wikipedia
Food Banks)

Poverty

Perhaps the three principal programs
that provide income and other assistance for poor people are
the minimum wage, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and the
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. Other important programs, not discussed
here, include Medicaid and the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Social Security and Medicare. (A recent study
[CBPP
2010] estimates that 20 million people:13 million over
65, 1 million children and 6 million disabled or widowed
people under 65 were lifted out of poverty by social
security benefits.)

Minimum wage The United
States enacts a minimum wage (as do some individual states)
that tries to establish a floor for what can be paid as
a wage by firms. The current minimum wage is $7.25 per
hour. In 2008, the official U.S. poverty level for
a family of 4 was $21,834 ( Census Bureau "Poverty
Thresholds"). With a 40 hour week, a family of 4
with one minimum wage earner would earn $15,080, only 69
percent of the poverty level. The minimum wage level is
not indexed to inflation, which means that the
real benefits will be eroded by inflation.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
The Earned Income Tax Credit is the mechanism through
which, by filing a tax return, low income people and
families can receive an income supplement.

The EITC is designed to encourage and
reward work. In 2009, the EITC lifted an estimated 6.6
million people out of poverty, including 3.3 million
children. The poverty rate among children would have
been nearly one-third higher without the EITC. The EITC
lifts more children out of poverty than any other single
program or category of programs. One way the EITC
reduces poverty is by supplementing the earnings of
minimum-wage workers. At the minimum wage’s current
level, such a family can move out of poverty only if it
receives the EITC as well as food stamps (CBPP
EITC.)

Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families (TANF) In 1996, TANF replaced the Aid to
Families with Dependent Children program, which had been
in existence since 1935. The TANF program provides block
grants to states to provide assistance to needy
families. States have discretion on how to use the
funds. The number of TANF recipients fell substantially
in the first five years of the program, in part due to a
significant increase in the number of single parents who
work, but also due to other factors, such as an
inability of families to meet the regulations. Studies
of families that stop receiving TANF assistance show
that 60 percent of former recipients are
employed—typically at poverty-level salaries between $6
and $8.50 an hour—while 40 percent are not employed.
Lack of available child care can well keep single
mothers from working as required, for example. Other
factors that undermine TANF’s contribution to people’s
security include a five-year time limitation on
benefits; permitting benefits to legal immigrants only
5 years after establishing legal immigration; and a
declining level of real funding for the program (Coven
2005). (see CBPP
TANF and Wikipedia
TANF.)